


Welcome to My Tattoo Parlor

by solomivan



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop & Tattoo Parlor, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Don't Have to Know Canon, Don't copy to another site, Established Relationship, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Language of Flowers, POV Third Person Limited, Pharmercy, rocket angel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-04-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:00:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23790463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/solomivan/pseuds/solomivan
Summary: One day of tattooist Satya Vaswani and florist Jamison Fawkes.
Relationships: Aleksandra "Zarya" Zaryanova/Mei-Ling Zhou, Fareeha "Pharah" Amari/Angela "Mercy" Ziegler, Gérard Lacroix/Widowmaker | Amélie Lacroix, Junkrat | Jamison Fawkes & Satya "Symmetra" Vaswani
Comments: 10
Kudos: 13





	Welcome to My Tattoo Parlor

**Author's Note:**

> A/N All characters and the world owned by Blizzard, and I do not claim any ownership over them.
> 
> Lena/Emily is mentioned.  
>    
> I'm very grateful to my beta [kuchi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kuchi)

Satya opened the door of her tattoo parlor with her key and entered her workplace one hour before the official opening time, as usual. It was a calming routine and a perfect opportunity to check every piece of her equipment and supplies.

She was always confident that each of her devices wasn't malfunctioning and their required substances were in sufficient quantity. Satya preferred to be sure that she had enough needles of every type.

When she finished, she looked at the clock. It showed that she had spent twenty minutes, like it was before and would be in the future. Then she took a book from her bag and sat on her chair, waiting for clients. It was her ‘light reading’ as she called it.

Satya knew that soon her neighbour — the florist Jamison — would appear. He also came before the beginning of the workday, to prepare his flowers and wrapping paper for them. Though unlike her, he came with annoying irregularity.

Jamison was the exact opposite of her. While she loved silence, he spoke loudly. Jamison typically moved irritatingly fast, whilst she savoured tranquillity.

Satya frequently remembered a quote from her friend Angela, a local trauma surgeon, "I’ll enjoy the quiet while it lasts." Though when Satya noticed Jamison, she recalled another line of Angela's: "Sometimes I am not sure why I even bother."

He saw her, grinned, and waved his hand, "Good morning! Have a nice day!"

Namaste in response. It was easier for her to use her traditional national greeting.

He opened the door and went to his plants. Their vases and pots stood chaotically, although Jamison claimed he had a special order for them, apparently known only for him.

The guard, Mako Rutledge, entered the building. He shook her and Jamison’s hands. Satya was always surprised how gentle his handshake was despite that fact he was able to roll a coin into a ball. Mako had done it for entertainment during last Christmas.

This house contained only the tattoo parlor, the flower shop, the restroom, and the small hallway. The owners were old friends — pensioners. The first was an engineer, Torbjörn Lindholm, who obtained several patents for his inventions as he once told Satya. He maintained this house in an excellent state.

The second was a wrestling ex-champion, Reinhardt Wilhelm. He participated in the professional sport during all his life and obtained his awards numerous times. He loved to show off his trophies.

They were active players in Starcraft and World of Warcraft. Each of them had two victories in international championships of both games and won a large amount of money. Unlike the owners, Satya preferred occasional casual matches. She wanted to have the autograph of another Starcraft winner: Hana Song, who was known as D.VA. The latter had mentioned in an interview that she worked as a Police Constable in her usual life.

Jamison was too impatient for video games, so he watched various series with short episodes or listened to the radio. He turned it on and caught the final line of a radio play: _"The mad Dr. Junkenstein had been slain. But the Witch of the Wilds was not done with him. Not in the least."_

Satya winced because it was too loud. Mako stopped his Hearthstone match on his tablet, turned around and glared at Jamison, who decreased the volume.

A famous French ballerina, Amélie Lacroix, came through the door. The newspaper articles said she reached her retirement age — 35 years — one month ago. She had declared she would be a teacher in her ballet school.

Satya was surprised when Amélie headed to her room, not to the flower shop. She didn't expect a ballet dancer to want a tattoo because it might spoil their body. Amélie showed her a drawing with a part of a French saying written with black Gothic letters: _araignée du soir, espoir._

Satya studied French in her institute, so she understood the line: _evening spider, hope._ It meant "If you see a spider in the evening, it's good luck." Amélie asked Satya to wrap the phrase around her right forearm.

Satya agreed and told Amélie to sit in the tattoo chair. After that, the sign "Do Not Disturb" was put on the door and the preparations were started. Satya cleaned the required arm area with surgical spirit and shaved it with a new disposable razor, discarded after use. She explained it was important that every hair, even the finest, should be removed to avoid problems. The right forearm was cleaned one more time.

Satya used a thermal-fax to make a stencil from the original drawing. After that, she transferred the picture to the moisturized skin by placing this thermal paper over it and pulling it away. With a blue likeness of the future tattoo, it was easier to make the required picture.

The ink was placed into its cap, the needles were removed from their sterile pouch and placed into the machine. Distilled water was poured into a cup for cleaning the needles during the process.

Some ointment was placed on a clean surface. Satya said, "This will keep the transfer from rubbing off and provide more smooth sliding on the skin for the needle. Now take a deep breath and try to relax because the first minute is the toughest, and after that, you'll get used to the pain."

She asked permission to play calming music to distract her client. When it was obtained, she put the minimal volume on her smartphone and turned on one of her playlists.

Satya outlined one letter, then filled it in and moved to the next. While she worked, she constantly wiped the skin to clear away the traces of the blood.

When the work was finished, the tattoo was cleaned up. It was done with one change of the needle. Satya wondered if Amélie didn't mind shooting several photos of the tattoo from various angles for her portfolio. Most people didn't object but two times she was refused because it was too personal.

When the result was documented and saved on the computer, Satya put an ointment on the tattoo to prevent any infection. The bandage was applied and taped securely. Satya printed the standard instructions for aftercare and read them.

1) Clean your hands before touching your tattoo

2) Remove your bandage within three hours, don't re-bandage, and cleanse your tattoo with antibacterial soap and warm water avoiding any type of cloth, pat it with a dry towel

3) Repeat cleaning and moisturizing two to five times a day for the first four days

4) Apply ointment regularly

5) Allow your tattoo to breathe and let it heal. Complete healing requires about six weeks

6) Refrain from picking and scratching your tattoo

7) Avoid prolonged sun exposure

Amélie thanked Satya and paid her with her credit card. Then she went to Jamison's flower shop. Satya didn't hear them talking, but she watched how the smile vanished from Jamison's face and he deflated.

He gave Amélie two red roses. Jamison frequently loved to talk about the meaning of flowers. Satya was sure this sign of passionate love was dedicated to Amélie's recently gone husband — Gérard — who was KIA by an enemy's sniper. She heard that tragic story in the news on TV several days ago.

Amélie left the building and the next client entered. It was Fareeha Amari, Angela's wife and the head of a private security firm. Satya recalled how at the beginning of her career she had tattooed the Eye of Horus — udjat — around Fareeha’s right eye.

The process wasn't so easy due to the delicateness of this area. The tattoo symbolized protection and was created when Fareeha’s mother Ana had been declared MIA during a combat operation.

Jamison sold Fareeha a huge colourful bouquet. Amaryllis with its lily-like flowers was for splendid beauty. Dark red carnation meant deep love and a woman's affection, while carnation with a lighter shade showed admiration. Chrysanthemum was a symbol of optimism, fidelity, and long life, whilst bird of paradise demonstrated joyfulness and magnificence.

The bouquet was put in transparent wrapping paper with tiny silver stars and tied in a purple ribbon.

Satya’s next client was Mei-Ling Zhou, a famous climatologist, who frequently appeared on scientific TV programs. Satya, Mako, and Jamison loved to watch them together on TV in the hall during their overlapping breaks. Mei and her colleagues studied global weather changes. Their watchpoints were over the world: Gibraltar, Switzerland, Antarctica, Chad, New York, Oslo…

Mei wanted a tattoo between her shoulder blades: an uncoloured teddy bear holding a heart with the word "Zarya". It was a pet name for her wife Aleksandra Zaryanova, who was one of the strongest women in the world. The day before yesterday Satya drew snowflakes on both the latter's hands, covering her whole palms. Inside these tattoos, the word "Мэй", the Russian version of Mei, was written.

On one hand, drawing only contours without filling them in made the task easier. On the other hand, the required picture would have a lot of details. Before making the tattoo, Satya asked about its colour. Mei replied, "If it's possible please use black ink. If not, then I would prefer blue ink."

Satya made a sketch and showed it to Mei. Mei approved it, saying it was just like she wanted. Satya pulled down the curtain attached slightly above the door to hide Mei from other people.

Mei hung her jacket and T-shirt up. She sat on the tattoo chair. Satya chose some calming melodies to play and started her work. After it was finished, Mei began dressing up. She noticed that Satya put the photo of her tattoo on the wall next to Satya's previous results.

It was a large wall with various pictures: _BAMF_ written on the fingers of a right hand, the Eye of Horus around both eyes, German and French phrases, wings on a back, complex geometric patterns on both Satya's forearms, Japanese hieroglyphs, an hourglass in the middle of a ribcage, a hexagonal, stylized Spanish sugar skull — Calavera — between collarbones, and more.

Mei was delighted and exclaimed, "A-Mei-zing!"

Satya responded with a smile, "You have my thanks."

Mei used her smartphone to provide a contactless payment for the tattoo. Satya thought that not many of her clients paid in cash.

Mei visited the flower shop and purchased a bouquet of red and orange roses to show her deep passion and fascination. Aleksandra had bought a similar flower composition when she had been here.

When Mei left the building, an old man in a business suit entered the shop. He started to give a sales pitch for insurance, then Jamison told something to Mako and dialled the police. The latter closed the door to the hall and pointed his short double-barreled shotgun to the visitor and after that to his chair. Mako always said such a weapon was more persuasive than any pistol or baton.

Satya had seen this man before on the internet. She knew he was trying to sell his fake insurance. He had already fooled a young British pilot and her wife. They weren't able to find him again and get him to return the money, but they issued warnings about him in their social networks and talked with the police.

His next attempts caused some _incidents_ according to the Twitter posts: _accidentally_ unleashing a guard dog — Stafford Bastion — in Hammond's pet shop, a fall from ten centimetres on the first step in Mama Hong's restаurant, acid spilt next to his boots in Moira's laboratory…

The police arrived quickly. Two officers left the car. Satya recognized them as Sergeant Jesse McCree and Police Constable Hana Song who was a Starcraft champion known as D.VA. She had watched a clip with both of them during the news on TV. Satya decided to ask Hana to sign her book after the current proceeding was finished. She wasn't sure if Hana would agree, nevertheless, it was worth a try.

The talk was short, the culprit was handcuffed and put in the car. Satya took her book and came to Hana for the autograph. Satya told Hana to use her game nickname, Symmetra. Satya chose it because she had loved order and symmetry since her childhood.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Unexpected Acquaintances](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24485521) by [solomivan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/solomivan/pseuds/solomivan)




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